My pregnancy was a normal, healthy 9 months. We were awaiting the birth of our first child with great anticipation. I was 2 weeks overdue, therefore, my labor was induced on a Tuesday morning at 8am. I was in labor for eight hrs with no problems. Our daughter, Samantha Lynn, was born at 4:20pm. She was absolutely beautiful!

I am a R.N. and when I initially held Samantha in my arms I remember thinking to myself how very "blue" she looked. However , I did not want to concern myself or my husband. Well , just 45 minutes later my husband happened to be walking down the hall and saw our baby being taken from the 'new born nursery' to the 'NICU' for 'testing', the doctor said.

Well, we soon found out just how 'blue' our baby really was. Dr. J. Werthammer came and talked with us and told us that Samantha had some heart defects, one of which was Transposition of the Great Arteries. The 2 main arteries in her heart were backwards, causing oxygenated blood to be mix with oxygenated blood. Thus the name, 'Blue baby'.

Understandably, my husband and I were scared to death. Within 24 hours, Samantha was ground transported to WVU Children's Hospital in Morgantown, WV. We were in our car right behind her.

Sam had her first heart cath when she was two days old. At that time the doctors there discovered she had 3 more defects in her heart. She had a Ventricular Septal Defect (a hole between the the bottom 2 heart chambers) and she had Coarctation of the Aorta (a narrowing in her aortic arch). She also had Pulmonary Stenosis, which is a narrowing in the pulmonary artery. During the cath the doctors made another hole in the upper chambers of her heart so that the blue and red blood could mix. This was done to give Sam more oxygen. Needless to say, no one was even sure if Sam would make it out of the hospital.

The next day, Sam had her first open heart surgery. They fixed her narrowed aortic arch by putting in a small Dacron tube to allow blood to flow more easily. When Sam was 10 days old, she underwent her 2nd surgery. Because of the anatomy of her heart, the left side of her heart was pumping blood back into her lungs causing fluid to build up They did what is called a 'pulmonary banding'. They put a band around her pulmonary artery to restrict that extra blood flow. This procedure was done to allow her to grow and gain weight to get her stronger for her 'big' surgery.

When Sam was 21 days old, we were discharged from the hospital and were able to take our baby girl home. What a joyous day it was! But boy, were we scared. We had been surrounded by doctors and nurses and they were our 'comfort'.

Samantha grew and gained weight and at 10 months, she underwent her 3rd surgery. Once again, we were off to WVU, where Dr. Robert Gustafson did her 'Arterial Switch'. This was done to correct her aorta and pulmonary artery that were 'backwards' at birth. We were told she a had a 3% chance of survival. She was the 1st child at WVU Children's Hospital to have this procedure done. She was in surgery for 13 hrs and came out with flying colors due to a wonderful surgeon and hospital team, and a lot of prayers through out the United States.

Since that time, Sam has continued to do beautifully. As time has passed, due to scarring from previous surgeries and from just growing, everything has needed upgrading. At age 4, Sam had a fourth surgery to reconstruct the narrowed pulmonary artery. In the summer of her 5th grade year, Samantha once again had her pulmonary artery reconstructed to adult size. They knew that she needed this enlarged because her blood pressure had been on the rise. That was corrected with this surgery, which was surgery #5.

In the summer of the 6th grade, Sam underwent surgery #6. They reconstructed the aortic jump tube that was fixed when she was 3 days old. It was also enlarged to an adult size tube.

Hopefully Sam is done with her surgeries, barring no complications. She is 15 years old and in 9th grade. She has her 'learners permit' and pretty much is a typical, wonderful teenager. We have been very blessed to have a wonderful surgeon and team of nurses who literally saved our child's life and became our friends in the meantime. We also cannot leave out the fact that our daughter is a child of God and prayers all over the states went out for her. She is truly a miracle.

Please feel free to write us if your child has similar defects or you would like us to pray for you and your child. We would love to hear from you.